first week of school was tough

went into the weekend kinda down, discouraged, overwhelmed, and wondering how i was going to do anything for these children when i was so un-sure myself.

found out all my fellow TFA ers felt the same, that was helpful.

then got an e-mail from my principal, telling me how much she believed in me, didn't want me to get down, and told me i had a tough class.

and now i'm ready for a new week :)

i made it through week 1

barely...

haha i'm not going to lie. this is the hardest thing I've ever done and i don't know if i'll be good at it.

i have SOO Much respect for teachers now!

every other day

seems to be a good day every other day (but TOMORROW is friday.. so it has to be good, right?! :)

today just went smoothly, i didn't yell, didn't get mad, just patiently waited when they weren't quiet, b/c they were wasting their OWN learning time (they do care about that, sometimes) haha at least they care about gym!

but it's getting easier (well sometimes) But i actually taught real lessons today and that went well and they were engaged.

and my kids are sweet, and i love that. i made the "toughest' little boy Tra'von cry today, b/c he got blue instead of green and will be punished at home... poor kid

but they are just fun and i know that even though i'm exhausted every day when i get home, i like it :)

i've learned to leave EVERYTHING at school.. b/c when i take stuff home i never relax, so that's working well too, two days in a row.

also i've spoken with 10 of my childrens parents.. only 15 more to go (for this week :)

day 3

synopsis of the day:

morning awesome (sensing a pattern here)

sent to lunch, RAINING no recess... down hill from here

kids took pent up energy and would not calm down all afternoon. had a child openly defy me in the hallway , would not listen/move or MOVE, had the whole class, didn't know what else to do, so i cried. haha seriously though

found out my girl with down syndrome is supposed to have someone working with her 24/7, haven't seen anyone work with her yet, though i have had someone observe "her" aka me, 3 days in a row. no help to her at all., sweetest girl though

ended day wanting to cry but realizing it would be ok when dominic said "the school day is just too short!" i love that kid

learned not to bring work home or i do it all evening.. so now i'm taking it easy :) WOO HOO TEACHING! hump day is overrr

Day 2

And i left school today not wanting to cry :)

but still utterly exhausted.

my kids are sweet, and i told them today we will only speak spanish in class, i think they took it well

we did well all day, got complimented in the cafeteria for having a good line, i think me being stricter on them, and flipping their card to colors besides green (for poor behavior choices) helped a lot.

my troubled child did get sent to the security guard all morning.. that's a different stoy, principal found her "loitering" outside the bathroom. (talked to her mom today, apparently she has a lot of issues, bi-polar, depressioN) GREAT talk w/ her mom, i'm glad i've mad that initial contact with her!

met and taught my other class i'll be teaching every other week, SUPER sweet kids, and VERY excited to learn :)

overall a good day.... now time to pass out :)

FIRST DAY

OVERWHELMED is one word to describe it... stream of consciousness

morning went well, afternoon ok, recess very fun, after recess disaster, girl cursing, flipping cards, having a student OPENLY defy me and not move when i told her to.

12 students who don't speak english, in a class where i can only speak spanish

one girl with down syndrome, who can not do anything i ask my class to do.

and the highlight of my day:

a boy who when we were packing up said "WE ARE LEAVING ALREADY!?!?! WHY!!!!!" :) and was super sad

third graders are cute,
but love to talk
are rowdy
and i have my work cut out for me!

School Starts tomorrow

I should probably be super nervous, and afraid i'll be terrible, BUT I"M REALLY EXCITED :)

my classroom is all set up

i've got my lesson plan done

2 lists of 25 kids

and i'm super excited to do what i've been training for!

know it won't all go the way i plan, but we will do what we can!


WOOHOOO

made my day

today i received a snail mail from grandma :)

made me very happy

i think i'll try and write one thing everyday.. might not be profound.. but it's all i've got time/energy for except for every now and then :)

and yet i'm still happy :)

left for school at 8
was at school til 2
ate lunch
stayed at school til 5
drove to grad school
there til now

now to translate/lesson plan and then do it all again :)

it was a good day

long, just got home around 8:30

overwhelming soo much to do!

but i'm teaching THIRD GRADE :)

and my co-teacher is wonderful

and the staff is excellent!

and i'm very excited!

and i'm going to be speaking a LOT of spanish

now to bed, i'm pooped and haven't stopped working, cept 1 hr to play soccer w/ 5 boys.... i'm really not good enough to play w/ 5 boys haha o well it's fun

I HAVE A JOB!!!

SOOOOO. I don't know if you all are aware of how stressed I've felt recently since I had not been placed. Originally the Kansas City Missouri School District (KCMSD) promised teach for america 51 contracts. We signed these before we left for training in Chicago. HOWEVER , when we got back we found out there were only 31 promised contracts. These contracts were all discovered this past week, and all the 31 contracted people were able to go to new teacher training. I, along with about 15 others were not contracted, and were pretty sure we might be unemployed until the 2nd or 3rd week of school (when the teacher hiring freeze was over)

HOWEVER, i got a call on Thurdsay night from a Principal, asking me to come and interview for a Bilingual speaking teaching position, teaching either 2nd or 4th grade. I was nervous for the interview but excited because I felt like I was very qualified for the position, and was SUPER excited b/c this is actually known as one of the better schools in KCMSD. It is still about 98% free-and-reduced lunch, and about 60% african american 48% hispanic, but it is one of the higher performing schools in the district AND In an awesome area! It is .9 m from my house! I could walk if i wanted to!

So i interviewed with the principal who seems awesome! She was very very excited about helping all students achieve no matter what, seemed to really care about her staff, and called the staff a "family". This was great to hear b/c a lot of schools have NO interaction w/ their adminstration at all! So even though it seems as though I will be working very hard, and long hours, we are working towards common goals all together which is exciting!

I got a call the day after the interview letting me know I will be teaching SOME grade at the school (pre-k-8th) and I will be teaching ONLY in Spanish. The way the program works is that each group of students has 2 teachers, one English speaking one, one spanish speaking one. They spend half their learning time only in Spanish (with me!) and during this time we ONLY speak Spanish. Then they spend the other 1/2 of their learning time with the English speaking child. It is the only school that does this in the entire state of Missouri, but it is designed to help the English speaking children learn SPanish and vice-versa. I'm very excited and know it will be HARD, but hopefully my Spanish will improve rapidly! It's like studying abroad... but in the US :)

My first day of work is Monday, and I will be in my school all week going through Professional Development, meeting staff, getting my classroom, and preparing for DAy 1 of school which is the 24th. MAN!

So overall i'm super excited! I'm loving KC, meeting lots of great people, and making good friends! I still miss everyone, but i HOpe you guys are having a wonderful end of the summer as well!

Save as Draft